Would you turn again please to
the passage we read 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and I want to draw
your attention for a text to verses 1 and 2 where we read. Therefore seeing we have this
ministry as we have received mercy we faint not have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. Therefore seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. This ministry. Paul here, in the midst of this
epistle, has something to say about the
ministry which he has received of his God. That message which
he has been sent to preach, the gospel of Christ. There are many who speak of having
a ministry. There are many who preach. There
are many who say they have the gospel. But there is a great
difference between much which is called ministry, and much
which is called the gospel, and much which is called religion,
whatever its flavor, and that which Paul preached. A great
difference. And in this passage in chapter
four, I want to consider seven aspects of the ministry which
Paul received, and the message which he preached, the gospel.
Firstly, the ministry. which Paul received, is of God. This ministry is of God, this
gospel. It's not of man. Secondly, this
ministry is revealed. For a gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost, but it is not hid, God has revealed
it. Thirdly, the revelation of this
gospel, this ministry, is at the command of God. God must make it known. Fourthly,
the power of this ministry is of the Lord. Fifthly, the life
of this ministry is in the Lord. Sixthly, the faith which man
has to believe this message, this gospel that comes from this
ministry, that faith is of the Lord. And finally, the glory
of this ministry, the glory in this ministry, the glory that
this ministry brings is entirely of God. Firstly, this ministry which
Paul received is entirely of God. It owes nothing to man. This chapter, chapter four is
in the midst of a discourse of Paul's in this epistle in which
he speaks of the ministry, he speaks of the gospel, he speaks
of how the Lord has entrusted him with the gospel. And he contrasts
it, in chapter three in particular, with that which had gone before.
For God had sent a ministry prior to the preaching of Paul. God
had a nation, Israel, which he had brought out of Egypt, a nation
which had come from the loins of Israel, Jacob, one of the
patriarchs, the descendant of Isaac and of Abraham. Abraham being that one whom God
called out of Ur of the Chaldees, that one whom God called a heathen,
out of darkness to follow him. He drew Abraham towards the light. He said, Abraham, get up, leave
your country and follow me. And he made promises under Abraham.
And he promised to lead him into a promised land and to make his
descendants great, to bring a great nation out of his loins. And
that nation would be the nation of Israel in the physical sense. a nation obviously a picture
of that spiritual nation, all God's Israel, all that people
who would be given faith to believe the gospel, all that people who
would follow in the faith of Abraham, to believe what Abraham
believed, to believe those promises made under Abraham. But that
physical nation of Israel, when brought out of Egypt were given
A priesthood were given the law of God, the Ten Commandments,
and the rest of the law which accompanied them. They were given
this priesthood and this law by the hand of Moses, by the
mediatorship of Moses, who was given these things in the mount,
and he was told how to instruct the priesthood. and how that
priesthood should offer up sacrifices unto God, how these things should
be done, when they should be done, how often they should be
done, the manner in which they should be done. He was given
this law, the Ten Commandments which were written and engraven
on stone. And all of this was a ministry,
a ministration. But Paul in chapter three of
Corinthians contrasts the ministration of the law, the ministration
of that which was engraven in stones with the ministry which
he was sent forth with. The ministration of the law pictured
the gospel which Paul should preach. And those who were given
faith at the time saw beyond the rites and the rituals in
the law to that which was spiritually revealed in the gospel. So it
is not that the gospel was not preached at the same time. It
was, but it was only discerned by those who were given faith
to see it. To many others, they simply saw the form. They simply
saw the law and the priesthood and the rituals they were called
to keep. And as it says in 2 Corinthians
3 verse 15, but even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil
is upon their heart. Verse 14, but their minds were
blinded, Israel of old, their minds were blinded for until
this day remain if the same veil untaken away in the reading of
the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. You see
the Israelites, many of them, and many today who follow in
their steps, whether Jewish or professing Christian, many today
will read the Old Testament. They will read the New Testament
even. And if the veil remains upon their heart, they see nothing
more but the words and the form. The minds remain blinded. And that veil must be taken away
to see the ministry which Paul was sent to preach. For that ministry which proceeded,
Paul describes in chapter three and verse seven, as the ministration
of death, written and engraven in stone. the ministration of death. Now
what is he calling the ministration of death? He's calling the law
of God, the ten commandments, that which God wrote, that which
God spake, that which God gave to his people in those days,
that which came from God. Paul nevertheless, inspired by
God, at the hand of the Holy Spirit, wrote rightly that that
is nevertheless the ministration of death. written and engraven
in stones. It had a glory, yes, but nothing
compared to that glory which would be made known in the gospel. As it says, for if the ministration
of condemnation be glory, if there was a glory in that which
is described as the ministration of condemnation and of death,
they're much more of the administration of righteousness, the gospel,
exceeding glory. For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory
that exceleth. For if that which was done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then we have such hope we use great plainness of speech. And he does use great plainness
of speech. refer to the Ten Commandments as the administration of death
is plain speaking and we would not wish to describe it in any
other way. Whatever you think of the Ten
Commandments if you're looking to make yourself right by that
pathway. If you think that you can take
the Ten Commandments or the Law of God or any part of the Scriptures,
if you think you can take the Sermon on the Mount in the New
Testament, if you could think that you can take any of these
things and shape your life and think that you can walk accordingly
and make yourself good before God, righteous before God, then
you will find that these things condemn you, that they slay you,
that that law which you think to be unto life is but a killing
letter, it is unto death. Whatever you may say of the law,
whatever religious men may say of the law when they speak of
it as being the believer's rule of life, God says it is the ministration
of death. It is not a rule of life. it
is a rule which when brought to bear upon a person when the
spirit brings it and brings it upon the heart of a person and
teaches them by it he slays them by it and he shows them that
that which they think to bring life will actually kill them
and it will bring them in guilty before God and if they're to
have life it must come another way Yes, it's a ministration
of death. And it has been replaced by the
ministration of righteousness. Of righteousness. And the ministration
of the spirit. The glory of which far exceeds
all that was given before. The law was good. It was holy,
it was just, as Paul says in Romans 7. There's nothing wrong
with the law. But where it failed is that it
commands man to render obedience by his strength. And the failing
lies in man. The failing lies in you and in
me. What the law says is right. We
should love the Lord God with all our hearts, all our souls,
and all our minds. We should love our neighbor as
ourselves. Absolutely. What it says is right. But you and I have not the least
scrap of strength to keep the least of its commandments. And
should we break one of its commandments, even if somehow we manage to
keep the rest, we'd fall under its condemnation. The law is
good, but man's a sinner. man's in darkness, man's a rebel
and under its ministration it proves to be a killing letter,
a ministration of death. So Paul in chapter 3 speaks of
this ministration and contrasts it with that ministry which he
has in the gospel. The ministration of life and
of righteousness, the ministration of the spirit. In chapter 5 he
goes on to expound something of the ministration of the gospel
when he speaks of the ministry of reconciliation. And he concludes
towards the end of chapter 5 by showing us what that ministry
is, that it stands in that substitutional work of Christ when Christ died
in the place of sinners. These under whom the law brought
its condemnation. These upon whom the law brought
its condemnation. These who were slain by the law.
These who could not stand under that previous ministry. These
who found that ministry to be unto death. For those who were
taught that. For those who are taught that.
Christ came. He came in the Gospel. He came
as a sacrifice for sinners. He came as their substitute.
And as Paul says in Romans 5.21, God hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. When he died, he exchanged places
with his people. In order to reconcile them unto
their God, he stood in their place. In that place of death,
in that place of condemnation, he went where they should have
gone. And he stood there under the wrath of God. And God took
that law, that ministration of death, which they had broken,
every one. And he looked at that law. And God took the sins which were
broken. He took those transgressions
under that law. And for every one of his people,
he took those sins and he laid them upon his own son. And he
took that which they are by nature in themselves, that death in
themselves, that corruption of sin, and he made his own son
to be it. And looking upon what his son
was, he slew him. He poured out the fires of God's
wrath upon him. He made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. That's how God saves. That's the ministration of righteousness. In so doing God brought in righteousness,
the righteousness of God, everlasting righteousness for a people who
were nothing but sin. For a people who were condemned
under the law of God and condemned justly. What a ministry. Now this is the ministry. which
Paul says in chapter four and verse one, we have received this
ministry as we have received mercy. We faint not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. Paul had received this ministry
He knew what it was to be under the law. He knew what it was
to be under that ministration of the law. He was a Pharisee. He knew what it was literally
as a Jew, as a Pharisee in that day and age to offer up sacrifices,
to order his life strictly according to all the commandments of God.
He knew what it was more than we will ever know what it is.
We read of these things in the scriptures but we live in a different
age. He'd been there and he knew that that ministry, his former
ministry, was unto death. But he had received another ministry. On the Damascus road, as he journeyed
to Damascus, breathing out threatenings against the people of God, against
these fools, these insurgents in Israel who were following
this man Jesus, who he had thought had been put to death, who he
had probably seen with his own eyes put to death. The scribes
and the Pharisees called out for him to be crucified. They'd
arranged the mock trial with Rome to have him unjustly delivered
up for crucifixion. The scribes and Pharisees had
watched on when that man died. They thought they'd put an end
to this man that had come to bring trouble in Israel, that
had come to stir up the people against them. They thought they'd
done away with him. And here they are, here are some
of his disciples going about in Jerusalem, continuing to preach
this message. Even though the one they followed
was put to death for it, even though they risked death themselves,
here they are going about preaching it. Paul himself stood on as
Stephen was stoned to death. He heard this man preaching this
message which so annoyed Paul, which he thought was contemptuous,
which he thought was against God, against all his understanding
of what the truth was. He raged against it and watched
as Stephen was stoned to death. And there came a day when he
intended to go to Damascus in order to round up believers there,
put them into prison, perhaps put to death. He'd put an end
to this if he could. He put all his strength and effort
in to put this ministry to an end. As he journeyed, a tremendous
thing happened to him. On his journey, a great light
from heaven shone, such that he fell to the ground. A great
light from heaven shone that blinded him, and a voice sounded
out from heaven above, Saul, Saul, why persecute this man? Why persecutest thou anyone? We've heard nothing like this
before. Nothing like this. All his religion,
all his being steeped in the scriptures, all his understanding
of that ministration of the law, he'd never heard this voice.
And he'd never had the impact of this voice. A light from heaven
shone. And it was the shining of that
light which wrought a changing soul to become Paul, which would
have an impact not only on him, but on countless multitudes to
follow. For the ministry which the Lord
Jesus Christ gave unto Paul from heaven above when he called him
that day, when he called him by grace, when he called him
unto salvation, when he shone the light of God into his heart,
when he turned him from darkness unto light and from death unto
life, when God called Saul that day, when God sent him forth
to preach the gospel, that gospel not only transformed Saul, It
not only brought a revelation of truth unlike anything he'd
previously understood or known, but it sent forth that Gospel
by Paul's lips as he spoke, by the power of God through the
Spirit of God, to countless, to countless numbers in his age
as he travelled throughout the then known world, preaching Christ. and the countless numbers who've
heard his message as recorded in the Scriptures ever since,
to this day and age, as God sends forth preachers to take the words
of Scripture, to take the accounts and the teaching which Paul recorded
in the Scriptures and to bring them unto generations to come,
even unto our day. Paul didn't seek this message
out He didn't construct it, it wasn't of his wisdom. It came
from God. It came entirely from God. Indeed,
everything in Paul to that day, to that point when he was brought
on the road to Damascus to see this light from heaven, everything
to that day of his religion and of his wisdom and of his intellect
and understanding, actually mitigated against the gospel. It was in
defiance. All that he had learnt brought
him to persecute Christ and his people. And later he would say
that he counts those things as done. A Pharisee of the Pharisee
of the tribe of Benjamin circumcised the eighth day. As for the law,
blameless, he counted it lost to the court of Christ. We might
say that Paul, a man of intellect, a man of understanding, was a
great man for God to send forth to preach the gospel. But God
doesn't need the intellect and understanding of man. And Paul's
greatness was not in himself. It was in the ministry which
he received of God. All that he had in himself, all
that he had learned before, was brought to nothing. And if you
or I are ever to know this ministry, this gospel and this saviour,
then anything that we have learnt or understood in the flesh, by
our wisdom, by nature, by man's religion, through our intellect,
must be undone. There must be a voice from heaven. There must be a shining of the
light. This ministry has one source and one source only. It
is of God. It is all of God. It is entirely
of God. It is not about man. It does
not come from man. It is not of man. It is of God. It comes from God. It is revealed
by God and it concerns what God has done, who God is and what
He shall do. It is entirely about Christ. The Gospel is the Gospel of Christ. We preach not ourselves, Paul
says, but Christ Jesus, the Lord. There are many passages in the
scriptures, which in the original translation in the Greek and
particularly often in a fairly literal way in which the AV has
translated it, that can be read more than one way. And I believe
sometimes the ambiguity in the phrase is intentional by the
author, by the Holy Spirit, for us to read them both ways. We
preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord can be read two
ways. The subject matter of what is
preached is not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul did
not preach Paul. He did not preach his thoughts,
his thinking or his experience. He preached Christ. But also,
in his preaching, it was not really Paul that preached. It
was Christ Jesus, the Lord. We preach, not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus, the Lord. He's the preacher. Paul's merely
the mouthpiece. Salvation is of the Lord. This ministry, this gospel is
of the Lord because salvation is of the Lord, entirely. What a contrast to the Old Testament
and that ministration of death, when wrongly understood, as the
Israelites of old did. They take the law, they take
the Old Testament, and they apply themselves to it. They say, God
has spoken, all that the Lord has spoken, the children of Israel
said, when Moses came down from the mount, and brought them the
Ten Commandments, they boldly said, all that the Lord has spoken,
we will do it. And yet in reality, all that
the Lord has spoken, we have not done it. The ministration of death, and
the performance of the law of God, under that ministry, lies
in man's strength. and in man's will and that is
why it's a ministration of death because man has no strength and
his will is set against God but what a contrast there is in this
ministry what a contrast for this is entirely of God it comes
from God, it's revealed by God and it concerns what God has
done, what God does and what God is doing, what God will do
all is of God All is simply to be received. Secondly, this ministry is revealed. It's not hid. It's made known. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world have blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. There is One who would hide this
message from your eyes and from your ears. And He loves to keep
the people in darkness. There is a God of this world
who has blinded the minds of them which believe not. Whether
they are religious or not, He will blind men through their
secularism. He will blind men through their
scientific atheism, very popular and pronounced in our day. But he's equally adept at blinding
men through their superstition, through their religion, through
their false religion, through their corruption of the truth.
He doesn't really care how you're blinded. as long as you're blind. He doesn't really care how religious
and how moral and how upright you are. In fact, he's probably
got you further from the reality of the truth that way than he
has if you're just left in the darkness of secularism. For you
think you see, when you see not. The Jews of old thought that
they were the ones which saw. But Christ said, you think you
see when you are blind. You're the ones that don't see.
For all your scriptures, for all the fact that those scriptures
point to me, you look in them looking for eternal life and
you've never come to me. You've never seen me in them,
I'm throughout them. I'm the message of that book.
And all you see is the forms. Here comes Messiah whom you're
waiting for and I stand before you the Son of God and you shout
out blasphemy! Away with Him! Crucify Him! For
all their religion they were blind. What of you? Perhaps you've read the Bible,
perhaps you've gone to church, perhaps you think you see. But
do you? Have you seen that light from
heaven? Have you received this ministry? It's Christ. This ministry is revealed. It
must be revealed for by nature we are blind and we are deaf
and we are dead. And we can read the scriptures,
we can hear preachers, we can study this out. But it won't
get us anywhere because we remain blind and we remain in the darkness
of our sin. Something has to happen outside
of ourselves for there is no strength or ability in us by
nature to take away the blindness of our eyes. Our hearts are as it were shrouded. The light of the gospel can come
but nothing gets in because there's this thick cover all around it. And somebody must come and take
that cover and rip it aside as a veil. As with the Jews of old,
the veil remained upon their heart even when Moses, even when
the scriptures were read. And that verse applies today.
To this day, even when the scripture is read, even when the gospel
is made known, the veil remains upon the people's hearts, except
the Lord taking it away. But it must be revealed, and
it is revealed in the preaching of the gospel by the Spirit of
God. It is made known. When Paul preached
This message was not one that simply informed the mind, but
it was a shining forth of light to all those whom the Lord ordained
that they should see. To some it was death unto death,
to others it was life unto life, but there were those who hearing,
hearing and believed. There were those unto whom this
message came and they found it to be the power of God unto salvation. the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ shined under them. It shines. Whereas that old ministration
of death brought in darkness, brought in a veil, left men blind
to the truth, this ministry, this ministry, makes known the
light. It shines the light. It brings
us to the light. and it is made known. This light,
this power, this gospel is made known through preaching, through
that which is a faithful manifestation of the truth. As Paul says, we
have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in
craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. but
by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. What set Paul's ministry
apart from others was the faithful handling of the word of God,
the faithful manifestation of the truth. You can bring this
word, and many bring this word, and you can twist it and rend
it, And no matter how many words you use from the scriptures,
it is that which blinds men. For it's twisted, bits are left
out, other bits are made more of. It's handled dishonestly, craftily,
deceitfully. But not so Paul. Paul's preaching
in this ministry was that which was a manifestation of the truth. Commending himself and the other
apostles to every man's conscience. To let them hear and to say,
is what this man says true? To let them hear what he says
and go to the scriptures and compare scriptures with what
they hear and to see and to say, that is true. And to Have their
spirit witnessed with the Spirit of God which makes known this
message in the preaching of the Gospel. That their spirit should
witness with that spirit and say, that is the truth. The Child
of God, those who hear, those who are brought to life, those
who are saved by the power of this Gospel. When they hear it,
they know. They know it's true. Their persuasion
that it's right is not merely intellectual. They don't just
say, well he's saying the right thing according to this word
and that word and that passage. And he seems to say the same
as that preacher I've heard. I think that's orthodox. But
no, there's that in them, there's that in their hearts which leaps
for joy and says that's the truth. If they've never heard it like
that before, if they've never heard it from others before,
when they hear it for the first time, they know it's true. Their conscience witnesses with
it. They say, this is the truth. This ministry, this preaching
declares the truth. It declares all the truth. It
declares the truth in balance. It declares the truth plainly,
clearly and boldly. It waters down nothing. It hides
nothing. It's not shy. It doesn't seek
to avoid offence. For it will bring offence. This
is not a message which man likes to hear. It's not a message that
you and I like to hear. For it begins by declaring the
wrath of God, burning from heaven against our sin. It begins by
declaring that we by nature are nothing. that we are guilty,
that we have sinned, that we have fallen short of the glory
of God, and that if we remain in such a state, we will justly
be condemned, not just now, but for eternity. This message burns
against us, and our hearts burn against it by nature. It's an
offense. Yet Paul, and the preachers of
this ministry, are not ashamed of this ministry. They preach
it plainly, clearly, boldly and in full. And it's the preaching
of those truths, those hard truths, and also the wonderful, gracious,
delightful truth of Christ and of his blood shed to deliver
from sin and to wash the guilty clean. It's the preaching of
those truths. that makes known the power of
God and His salvation. It's in that preaching, in such
preaching, that the light shines forth. And in nothing else. It's not to be obscured, it's
not to be hid. It's not to be hidden under a
bushel as Christ says. It's to be made known. Let your
light shine forth before all men. The Gospel is not to be
hid, but to be preached. that the lost, the lost sheep
may hear. The revelation of this Gospel,
for it is revealed, the revelation of this Gospel is at the command
of God. It's made known, it's revealed,
but not at man's command. You may want to know the truth,
Perhaps God starts a stirring in your heart, he starts to teach
you what you are and your state by nature. He starts to teach
you that you are under condemnation. And you begin to want to know
the truth, you begin to want to search it out. But you'll
soon find that your efforts, your intellect can't make it
known. you search, you try to reform your life, you look into
the scriptures, you try to live right and the harder you try
and the harder you search the worse you get and the more confused
you become it is revealed but not at your command neither is
it revealed at the command or the will of a preacher The gospel,
the power of gospel is made known in the preaching of the gospel.
God sends forth preachers to declare it, to preach it. But
it's not their words or their command that reveals it. The
Spirit of God must accept God's preach by that preacher. There
will be no revelation. But when there is the revelation,
it is at the command of God. Paul says, we preach not ourselves
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, verse 6, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, have shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. There was a day when God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. he did that in the day in which
he created the heavens and the earth the first day of creation
let there be light and the light shone but he did it also and
he does it also and he continues to do it when he shines the light
of the gospel out of darkness into the hearts of those whom
he will bring to life Paul knew the shining of this light, not
just that light of the sun above him on the Damascus road, but
there was also at the same time a shining of the light in his
heart. He knew what it was to have that
light give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a revelation. What light. Have you seen this light? Have
you seen this face? What do you know of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? What a revelation! We can't bring that to pass,
we can't see it for ourselves until that day when God commands. O glorious day! Wonderful day,
merciful, gracious day, when He speaks that day, when after
such a time, convicted of sin, desperate to know this God, desperate
to know that our sins are forgiven, falling upon our face, crying
out, Lord, help me, Lord, make thyself known unto me, Lord,
save. Lord, I'm a sinner, help me,
save me. There comes a day, When the Spirit
of God, in the power of the Gospels, speaks a still small voice in
the heart of man, and says, Son, thy sins be forgiven. Take up
thy pen and walk. I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. When that light shines in, and when we
see Christ in a way we've never seen him before, We've heard
of him with the hearing of the ear, as Job would say. But now
mine eyes have seen him. I abhor myself in dust and ashes. What a contrast between what
is in us, darkness and sin, and what is in him and in his face.
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. What a revelation. It comes at
the command of God. He speaks at His will. When He
chooses, not when we choose. He speaks and it is done. We
cannot command it. We cannot produce it. We cannot
draw it out. We cannot bring it down. We cannot
work it up and we cannot see it by nature. We can't even fabricate
it really. Many do in false religion. They
fake it. They persuade themselves that
they have the truth, when all is in the letter, when all is
in the flesh, when all is in the mind. But it stops so short. The true children of God can
discern what is true and what is false. Many speak of Christ,
but there's something lacking. It's so far short of what they've
come to know in this ministry. when you've had a sight of this
face, it's a different sight it's a different sight, it's
a different knowledge, a different experience a different ministry
no, it can't be faked, it can't be worked up, it can't be fabricated
it's revealed revealed by God at His command and it's seen
in one place only in the face of Jesus Christ The revelation
of this ministry comes in power. This sight is a powerful sight. The transforming effect of having
the light shining is a powerful transformation. And the power
which is found in this ministry is entirely of God. Entirely
of God. There's nothing of man in it.
Not in ourselves, not in a preacher, nothing. People sometimes speak
of powerful preaching. Often they mean that the voice
is raised. Or that there is great eloquence
or the subject matter is so moving. But the power of this preaching
is not in man. It's not in the preacher, it's
not in the words alone. But it's in the voice of God
declaring this gospel in power to bring the hardest of hearts
to believe, to break the hardest heart, to break the hardest will,
to melt the heart of man, to turn us from darkness unto light.
There's nothing in which man can take pride in. The preachers
even, Paul says that he's but an urban vessel, that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. Many heard him, many
were saved by his message, but he said, I'm just a vessel. I'm
like a pot of clay. I'm nothing. The power, the glory
is in this gospel and in the God that makes it known. There's
no strength in us. The power is of God. The life
of this ministry, the life that this ministry brings is in God. It comes from God. It's in God. It's entirely of God. For this
ministry brings life. It takes those who are dead and
makes them to live. To live. It's a living ministry. It's not dead, it's not a ministration
of death, it's not a ministration of condemnation. It's the ministration
of the spirit of righteousness and of everlasting life. Whatever
our experience when we've been brought to know this life, when
you come to hear this gospel, when you're brought to believe
it, when you come to live and to walk by this life which is
made known in this gospel, whatever your pathway, However hard the
pathway may be, the life, the strength is entirely in God. Paul has this to say about this
pathway. We're troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. We're persecuted, but we're not
forsaken. Cast down. but not destroyed,
always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. The pathway of the child of God,
the pilgrim, the sheep that follow the shepherd is one of trial.
Inevitably, always, there is trouble on every side, and yet
because their gaze is upon that face of Jesus Christ, in which
the light of the glory of God shines. Because their gaze is
there and not to themselves, they're not distressed. They're
perplexed, they're confused, things don't go as they hope
or as they imagine, but they're not in despair. Men persecute
them, everyone, all men might abandon them and persecute them,
but they're not forsaken, for Christ never forsakes his own.
They're cast down, but they're not destroyed. They constantly
feel themselves to be dying. Their experiences of being crushed
and of dying. Yet they're constantly being
brought to life again in Christ. For their life is in that resurrection
life in the one who died for them and who rose for them. As it says in verse 16, Though
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by
day. Day by day. Outwardly we suffer. We feel weak. We feel feeble. We feel crushed. But there's
that in the heart brought forth to life by the Spirit of God
in the Gospel. There's that inward man which
is renewed by the Gospel, renewed by the grace of God, renewed
by the Spirit of God day by day. there is grace sufficient for
the day, to rise up above the trials, to continue to walk,
to continue to believe, to continue to trust. Sixthly, the faith
that this ministry brings, the faith by which we believe it,
by which we receive it, by which we trust in it and rest in it,
our faith, our belief is not of us, it's of God. It's of God. As Paul says, death
worketh in us, but life in you. Verse 13, we having the same
spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe and
therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore
speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall
raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. He
believed, he had the same spirit of faith, He believed and therefore
he spake. And that belief came from God,
when God revealed Christ unto him, when the light shone forth,
and when God took one whose will was set against him, one who
never believed, one who could never see, one who was blind,
and gave him eyes to see that which man by nature cannot see.
eyes to see into eternal glories, eyes to see Christ as the Saviour
of sinners, eyes to see His salvation. The faith is of God. Finally,
the glory of this ministry is not of man, not to man, not for
man, the glory of this ministry is to God and it is of God. And this ministry brings glory
unto God and it brings to glory with God. All the glory is towards
God, it declares all that He has done, all that He has done
for there is nothing of man and it brings us through our tribulations,
through this pathway to that day to come, that day when we
will stand before Him and when we will behold Him as He is in
eternal glory to God. it brings to glory, it brings
an eternal weight of glory. Our light affliction which is
but for a moment working for us are far more exceeding an
eternal weight of glory. Whatever the trial now, whatever
the persecution, whatever the trouble, it's working for us
a weight of glory. is bringing us to that day when
we will behold the Saviour. Behold the One who died that
we should live. Behold the One who suffered that
we should not suffer. Behold the One who brought us
out of darkness into light. Behold the One who brought us
out of death into everlasting life. There's persecutions now,
but there's a wonderful glory to come. And that glory is to
be with Christ. Men speak of heaven. Men speak
of going to heaven. Men speak of how wonderful it
would be to go to heaven. But most men's idea of heaven
is to be freed of the trials of this earth. To be freed of
poverty, of illness, of tears, of famine, of war. To be in a
place where these things are no more. And heaven is all of
that. That's not really heaven. Heaven is to be where we will
behold the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ for
evermore. Heaven is Christ. And Christ in His Gospel, in
this ministry, is made known not just the other side of the
grave, He's made known here and now. And the child of God beholds
this face and this glory here and now. Yes, the outward man
perishes. Yes, the trials and the difficulties
are here. But in the inward man, He's in
glory. He beholds the Saviour. and He
looks for that day when these trials, when these afflictions
will be gone and our light affliction will have worked for us that
way to glory and will bring us into that eternal glory. Is that
where you're looking? Is that where you're looking?
Is this the ministry which you have received? Is this the ministry
which you believe? Is this the gospel which you
believe? Has God made it known unto you? Is this that in which
you rest? Is this that in which you look?
in your trials, do you long for Christ, do you cry out to Christ,
do you cry out, oh come Lord Jesus, come, come with this ministry,
come in this ministry, come by this ministry, come through this
ministry, and in the end when all the temporal is brought to
a close, come with that which is eternal, which this ministry
and this ministry alone makes known. That which is not seen
naturally, but which is seen spiritually. That which is eternal. Oh Lord, come for our light afflictions,
which is but for a moment, working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal way to glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen I'll return.